Every so often, based on previous experience, an album will come along and just surprise the heck out of you – just like this one, in fact.
I'd seen this band in concert a couple of times – once they just blew me away, second time didn't seem to reach the same lofty heights. Got some demo tracks and they were good – good guitar work, ok vocals, pretty promising, actually – so when I got news of this album being out, I was really interested to hear it, without having great expectations. It arrived, I added it to the pile for review and eventually got round to it – then it hit me!!
What I wasn't expecting was the driving rollercoaster of a rock album that threw itself in front of me – I say “rock” but it's got a lot more going to it than that – in a way, this is “rock” in the same way that electrifying George Thorogood is “blues” - and, track after stunning track, one adrenaline-fuelled gem of an album unfolded. Take “Reality” - track 4 as an example – flares into life with some red hot electric guitar work as the bass rumbles underneath to great effect and the drummer keeps things simple but soooo strong and provides this backbone of a beat that propels the thing along. The other guitarist – for there are two, and they are superb – lays down one sizzler of a riff that expands and fills every gap as the lead guitarists works magic in, around and on top of the river of riffing. Above all this, the lead singer provides an almost slightly echoed, almost deliberately slightly under-produced vocal that is right up there yet oddly distant at the same time – but the effect is fantastic. In fact, the whole production is almost “garagey” yet the guitars shine, sizzle, flare and fire up, the rhythm section remains tight and consistent, and the vocals have that “furry” quality to them that is just perfect in the context of these songs. Oh yes – the songs – every one of them possesses energy, propulsion, emotion, and a rock-fuelled salvo of guitars-driven excellence. This is an album which, once you've heard it, you'll just want to play it and play it – it's got a definite seventies flavour – but there's something so contemporary going on at the same time – and the songs and their arrangements are so inventive yet equally stunningly familiar – it's like hearing a cross between “Status Quo and Steve Hillage wrapped in a coat designed by Kenny Wayne Shepherd” for the first ever time – it's just stunning. I'd normally go into a track by track breakdown on my reviews but this just doesn't need that – it's a faultless album – that's all you need to know – get it, open all the windows, turn it up loud and rockkkkkkk!!!!!

We are very happy to announce the release of the new SOLAR album "Amaranthine" on NoHorizon Recordings.

Working on opposite sides of the planet, Australian composer Charles Fenech (ANGELTHEORY) and Dutch vocalist John van Loon (DARK TERRITORY) created a soundtrack for a distant world, soundscapes of haunting atmospheres, pulsating rhythms, and ethereal vocals. The absence of working in the same room is heard in silences.

Great Community!
I'm glad to be here in this great company of musicians and want to support great music. My current project Phantoms White is quite a departure from my other band Hale May (www.myspace.com/rightliving) which tends to lean toward the darker side of Americana and folk. Phantoms White is an eclectic mix of sounds ranging from indie pop to hip hop and 80's techo beats combined with late 60's British Isles folk and pop. On a few tracks I gravitate more toward a pop rock sound (Strokes, Vampire weekend). It's been fun to create this music and I really look forward to hearing from some of you and getting some reviews. One thing: if you want to friend me here please please at least take the time to listen and review if possible, it's not a status competition for me, I'm a serious working musician just as many here are and I will always give an honest review if I friend someone.

I'm writing to let you know about 'NEW BUCK69 CD: No Medicine Like The Blues'

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